UNIT 12. PHONETICS IN THE NEW ENGLISH PERIOD § 1. Vowels The two outstanding changes in the vowel system from Middle English to
Modern English are:
-
the loss of many final vowels in unstressed syllables, especially the vowel
e ,
and,
- changes in the long vowels of stressed syllables, called the “
great vowel shift ”.
a) The loss of final vowels had already begun in late Middle English, but the
process was completed only in early Modern English. The various endings, all
reduced to the neutral
e in Middle English, disappeared entirely in Middle English,
though the
e was often kept in spelling.
E.g.: OE ME NE cēpan [„ke:pan]
kēpe(n) [΄kə:pə]
keep nama [‟nama]
nāme [΄na:mə]
name (e – silent)
b) The so-called “
great vowel shift ” consisted in a series of changes, which
affected the long vowels in Middle English and transformed them gradually into quite
different sounds in Modern English. All the long vowels came to be pronounced with
a greater elevation of the tongue and closing of the mouth, so that those that could be
raised (
ā, ē, open
ē, ō, open
ō ) were raised, and those that could not, without
becoming consonantal (
i, u ), became diphthongs. The effect of the shift can be seen
in the following comparison of Chaucer‟s and Shakespeare‟s pronunciation:
Middle English
